


Backup Backup Hair Straightener

by kailthia



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Nori is a Little Shit, Ri Family Feels, antics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-14 00:59:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2171910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kailthia/pseuds/kailthia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nori keeps on stealing Dori's hairstyling gear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Backup Backup Hair Straightener

Nori had hidden Dori’s haircare kit.

This was no ordinary haircare kit – it had belonged to their mother, and was one of Dori’s prized possessions. It contained a truly lovely set of mother-of-pearl combs and brushes, with spaces for ties, pins, bottles of oil, and other paraphernalia. The whole thing was enclosed in a heirloom box that had been in their mother’s family for generations, featuring some very pretty carving and a mirror on the inside of the lid.

Nori had – through some measure of planning or luck – managed to make off with the kit on a day that Dori wasn’t working at his restaurant, instead leaving his second-in-command in charge to gain experience of how to run the place in case Dori ever had to be further away than a runner could get to him for an extended period.

This fortuitous circumstance meant that Dori wasn’t in a murderous frame of mind, but he was willing to admit that he was … slightly peeved at his middle brother. Especially because Nori _knew_ that since Ori wasn’t living at home any more (having taken rooms with the other scribe-apprentices by the libraries as was expected of him), Dori ostensibly wouldn’t have any spare haircare items just lying around.

Dori wasn’t sure if Nori was trying to keep him in the house because he was in the final stages of a particularly nasty job or was just trying to get on his nerves. If it was the latter, then Nori had definitely succeeded.     

If it was the former, then Nori was just out of luck.

oOoOoOoOo

Nori ambled in the door of Dori’s apartment at suppertime, a bulging cloth bag over his shoulder. He had, in fact, made off with Dori’s hair tools for a laugh, and had invited himself over for supper so he could bring them back – as well as a few very nice balls of steel grey wool for Dori so that maybe his older brother would maybe only spend half of the evening talking at him to try and get him to take up an honest trade. As if he ever would. Nori made his way to the kitchen after wiping his boots carefully on the mat. No need to get mud on Dori’s carpets. He turned into the kitchen, taking a deep breath of air redolent with the smell of Dori’s pork-cabbage dumplings, and saw –

Dori’s hair was not done up in its usual perfect braids.

It was done up in a fancier version, one that was in no way a “stay-at-home” lazy hairstyle. The last time Nori had seen Dori’s hair this fancy was at the Durin’s Day celebration last fall.

Nori (wisely) thrust the bad into Dori’s hands, sat down, made small talk, ate dumplings, and was Very Polite while he plotted. Once the dinner had progressed to the tea-sweets-and-savories point, Nori slipped one of his favorite herb mixtures into Dori’s cup of chamomile. While Dori was occupied in the privy _because_ of this herb mixture, Nori recovered the haircare kit that he had returned and went in search of the spare that Dori so obviously had.

Nori found the spare kit hidden in one of the caches that Dori had set up to hide his valuables in in case his apartment was visited by thieves – this one in the pantry. Not that they had much of true value – the caches mostly held items of sentimental value. The spare haircare kit was not nearly as fancy as Dori’s everyday one, but was entirely serviceable. Hiding the boxes in one of the bags that he kept hidden on his person and replacing the food on the shelves in front of the dummy section of wall, Nori was out the window in the hall in a flash. No need to let Dori know what had happened. It was a good thing that Dori was off work for the next few days; it gave Nori opportunities.

oOoOoOoOoOo

            Nori was bringing Ori home from the Central Library for a Family Dinner (capitals most definitely implied). Ori got a half-day a week off every two weeks, and he spent every second one with Nori and Dori. The first part of this was typically spent at the markets, enjoying the sights and picking up whatever odds and ends Ori needed, and then back to Dori’s apartment for some family time. The market visit was done for the month, and now Ori and Nori were turning down the sidestreet that led to Dori’s restaurant, and, above it, his apartment.

They entered the restaurant, nodding to the staff, and took the door in the back that led up to the apartment. Nori was dancing a little inside to see how Dori would react to having both his regular hairstyling gear and his backup hairstyling gear taken. He would know that Nori did it, but he wouldn’t want to react too strongly with Ori there – the lad was only forty-three.

Nori was glad that his poker face was as good as it was when he saw Dori’s hair – it was even fancier than yesterday’s coiffure. Nori thought longingly of the flasks hidden in his clothing.

Dori smirked.

oOoOoOoOo

“You have a backup backup hairstyling kit?” asked Nori when Ori was safely abed. His voice was caught between a screech and a wail.

Dori raised an eyebrow. “Of course. It’s only logical.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on something that happened in my uni dorm. Dori is the Senior RA.


End file.
